JOHN BUELL

Public Education and
Citizen Accountability

As promised during the campaign, President Bush has given priority
to education in his proposals to Congress. Reading election returns
and polling data indicating resistance to private school vouchers,
Bush tried to soft pedal his most radical ambitions and concentrate
on areas of broader consensus. Nonetheless, the president still
intends to "make his case" on vouchers. Though Democrats and moderate
Republicans will likely win this battle, they would do well not only
to make the case against vouchers but also to delineate progressive
alternatives.

Scholars have debated results of earlier voucher experiments for
over a decade. Though voucher proponents argue that giving children
the opportunity to leave failing public schools boosts educational
performance, results appear at best mixed. Martin Carnoy has provided
a careful summary of the literature in the Jan. 1 issue of The
American Prospect. He points to deficiencies in the control
groups with whom voucher recipients have been compared. Most studies
have failed to draw a random sample of those students from urban
public schools whose parents did not apply for vouchers. These
parents were presumably more satisfied with their schools. Follow-up
tests to measure success of the private schools have been voluntary
and participation has been low. Results may be subject to a
self-selection bias. Those children for whom schools have been a
positive experience may be more willing than others to take the
voluntary evaluations.

Even were one to concede that children transferring to private
schools do accomplish more than equivalent peers in public schools,
our policy conclusions should be guarded. These private schools may
be doing well not because they are private but because they often
benefit from smaller class size and more adequate facilities.

Policy makers must consider not only the educational effects on
students who leave public schools but the burdens imposed on those
who remain within the system. Under Bush's proposal, students would
be free to take a Federally subsidized voucher and leave schools
failing to achieve gains on standardized tests within a three year
period. School committing themselves to this experiment would receive
enhanced Federal subsidies. Unfortunately, the amount of money being
offered is far too little to fix the massive inequities and long term
underfunding of the poorest schools. Judging those schools by one
standardized test will even exacerbate their problems. It will
discourage creative teaching and drive the best teachers away.

Bush's proposed vouchers themselves are too parsimonious. $1,500
will not pay tuition at even a mediocre private school. $1,500 would
probably allow some middle and upper middle class students more
easily to leave public schools, but less affluent children would be
left behind. At this point a destructive dynamic would unfold. More
wealthy parents, who already wield disproportionate political
influence, could no longer be counted on to support the state and
local taxes upon which vigorous public education has depended. Public
schools would deteriorate and their students might fall further
behind.

Progressives ought to fight for more generous and equitable public
education. There is solid evidence on how not only in recent Rand
Corporation studies but from international comparisons as well.
Smaller class size, more emphasis on teacher training, and better and
more inclusive early childhood programs have consistently advanced
educational excellence.

If the president wishes to insist on vouchers, progressives should
turn the tables on him. An adequate voucher system should provide
equal educational empowerment to all. Every student should have the
opportunity to attend a school as well funded as Exeter. Since
vouchers of this magnitude for the entire school age population would
be prohibitively expensive, funding should be concentrated on those
who most need it. Robert Reich has suggested a progressive voucher
arrangement under which the poorest parents would receive the largest
educational voucher, with amounts scaled back as parental income
increases.

Public education is at a crossroads. Public education has always
been both a product of and support for deepening political democracy.
Republicans rightly insist that public accountability must accompany
new public funding. But they are wrong in suggesting that
accountability can be achieved best through standardized tests and a
right of exit to the relatively better off. And when such exit risks
destroying the schools and students who remain behind, it is
irresponsible.

Accountability within a more equally and adequately funded public
school system can be achieved by giving parents more choices within
that public school system. With more adequate funding for smaller
class sizes and better teacher training, public school systems would
offer more options. Charter schools working within the public school
system might experiment with collaboratively designed evaluation
systems for teachers, staff, and students. Fashioning more equal and
more open public schools will be the best way both to advance
education and restore faith in democracy.

John Buell lives in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and writes
regularly on labor and environmental issues. He is co-author, with
Etta Kralovec, of The End of Homework: How Homework
Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning
(Beacon Press). He invites comments at
jbuell@acadia.net